


Ashes to Ashes

by imagine_5boys



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Historical, Concentration Camps, Germany, Ghetto, Homophobia, Homosexuality, Jewish Character, M/M, Nazis, Third Reich, WWII, World War II, jew
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-03
Updated: 2013-04-03
Packaged: 2017-12-04 03:48:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/706207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imagine_5boys/pseuds/imagine_5boys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis is a 17 year old who has just recently enrolled in the Nazi army.</p><p>Harry is a 15 year old jewish boy.</p><p>Louis has a has a pretty decent life, it looks like Nazi Germany is on top of the world.</p><p>With Hitler gaining power the Jews start losing their rights. Harry moves to a ghetto, then one day the Germans come to bring the citizens of his ghetto to a concentration camp. </p><p>This is where Louis sees the scared little boy. He wants to do nothing but comfort the frightened 15 year old.</p><p>He starts doing small things to help the child. Sneaking him bread, giving him blankets, and extra socks.</p><p>Soon the 15 year old boy idolized this German soldier. He is so much more kind than the rest.</p><p>Louis starts falling for the frail Jewish boy as well, but things are complicated.</p><p>It is the a great crime to be a homosexual, and it is even more of a sin to love a Jew. What does Louis do when his world revolves around a boy who is supposed to be scum, but to Louis, Harry is the most precious object in the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One: Leaving Home

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter is strictly Louis as shown by his name at the beginning. Anyway, it has a "Slaughterhouse. Five" feel to it, not in the way it was written or how it flows (it is in one solid line of events), but it mirrors SH5 in the repetition. You'll know what I mean when you start reading. There is no death or violence yet. Oh and quick disclaimer: I hardly ever pay attention in History Class, so the facts about it all may be totally off, and I am sorry 'bout that. Anyway, this is my first Larry fic, so I'm kinda nervous about that, but... 'ere we go!

Louis:

Louis looked out the window of the small train. He and a few other soldiers were being shipped off to a concentration camp. No, they were not Jewish, Slavs, Homosexuals, or any other type of inferior creature; they were new soldiers, each one eager to take part in serving Hitler. The Führer was on a wholly quest to rid the homelands of the filth of rot. Looking past the glass, Louis stared at the rolling hills pass him by, he was going to miss it, home, but he knew that this was for the best. His parents had been so proud of him when he had told them that he had been accepted. He and a few fellow Nazis would be running a concentration camp. Each had been fed the stories of glory that fueled their passion to fight. They had been given promises of a perfect world, one without the scum of Jews, and other subordinates. When they got home they would be welcomed back as heroes, but Louis couldn’t shake this feeling in the pit of his stomach. He didn’t know what the feeling was; he thought it was excitement when he first felt it about a week ago. As the days passed the feeling grew, now he wasn’t so sure. He kept telling himself they were just nerves, they would settle as time went on.

No one talked; the ride was silent. All that could be heard was the engine working, and the air outside whistling past the train car. Louis found himself wondering what thoughts were going through each of others’ heads. Did they feel the same as him? Did they have the same unknown feeling in the pit of their stomach? Or, were their minds blank slates wiped clean by the excitement of serving the mighty Führer.

Once again Louis found himself pondering what it would be like to work at the concentration camp. He knew that there he would witness death; it was inevitable. Ashes to Ashes. Would it be as easy to watch death take a human as the others said it would be? He couldn’t see why it would be hard, these weren’t people they were animals that needed to be put down. It was the only way to purify the land. Then again, Louis always cried when animals died; it was worse than when a human passed away. He could clearly remember his dog dying when he was ten. Ashes to Ashes .The loss of his best friend had caused many nights of tears, but he was stronger than that now; he was sure of it.

Louis wasn’t really sure why he was nervous, sure he was leaving home for who knows how long, but it wasn’t like he was going to the front line. He would be watching over a concentration camp. While some thought this to be less respectable than fighting on the front line, Louis didn’t mind. He didn’t have to worry about being shot, or having to have some limb amputated. The stories that had gone around his training camp had been awful, tales of men who had been shot, amputated, and then bled out dying in excruciating pain anyway. Ashes to Ashes. It was because of those fables that brought Louis light spirits when he found that he would be serving the Führer by watching over a concentration camp. Death would not come for him there.

Staring at the red carpeting of the train car he brushed his boot-clad foot over the plush rug. Louis wondered how long it would be before he would see such a luxurious surrounding again. The concentration camps were known for their lack of luxury. While he would be staying in a soldiers quarter, which was considerably cleaner than the houses that the animals were held, they weren’t exactly known for their fine living conditions.

A body from the other side of the car cleared his throat and Louis’ gaze snapped up to see who had shattered the heavy silence. It was an older boy named Jan; he was a year or two older perhaps, Louis had seen him around the training camp. The boy had pail blond locks, and sharp blue eyes. He was beautiful. Not that Louis felt that way towards men, but he had that look. When one looked at Jan they could tell that he was from a pure bloodline. The fear of filth ate at Louis every day; his hair, chocolate brown, was never light enough, and his eyes, while blue, were dull and grey, not that clear sapphire of purity. The insecurity of his indecency was one of the reasons he had decided to join the Third Reich, to prove his loyalty to the wholly race. 

Jan’s stare meant Louis’ and he held it for a second before giving a slight nod of his head. Louis responded in the same manor before they both went back to looking out the window. Their world was quickly being left behind as the train plowed on into the new. The flat farmland that Louis had become so accustom to growing up was nowhere to be found. Out side the window now were soft green hills, soon those would be replaced with new land as well. 

Searching through his bag, Louis found some sugar biscuits that his mom had made him for the long ride. He unwrapped the small cookies and pecked at them, he felt bitter sweet about the whole deal. He missed home already. The sweet bread reminded him of his mother’s cooking, her warm hugs, and loving kisses. No, Louis was a grown man, he was seventeen; he refused to cry because he missed home. Crying was a thing for children, and he was a soldier, he was strong. Finishing a cookie he packaged the others, wrapping them up safely in the parchment paper they had come in before placing them back into his satchel. Louis didn’t want to finish them now; there would be other times that he would want the comfort of home when he was facing the barbaric ways of the unruly humans. The soldiers sitting around him would be his family now, the only worthy ones in a camp filled with monsters.

The sun was quickly sinking in the sky, soon the stars would come out cutting through the darkness like they did ever night, some things never changed. Louis’ life was changing though. He would go to bed as the Louis of today and wake up a whole new man. When morning came he would be changed, the Louis of today would be dead and gone replaced with a man one ready of his new life. Ashes to Ashes.


	2. Chapter Two: Leaving the Ghetto

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we meet Harry, the 15 year old Jewish boy.
> 
> Here we see a small portion of his life in the Ghetto before he and his small family are forced by the Nazis to, once again, leave their home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I use he term "Judenscheisse" which in German means the equivalent of "Jewshit" I am in no way trying to be offensive. This was a term that they used in the 1930s and I felt that it helped bring the story to life. It helped prove the point of how everything the Nazis did suppressed the "inferior races"

Harry:

The hunger. That was all that ran through Harry’s mind, every day and night. The painfully strong hunger. It had been ages since he had eaten a full meal, and even longer since his mom or sister had, although they would not admit this, but Harry knew. He was the youngest in his family, and therefore they felt the need to protect him. Couldn’t they tell it was killing them? So many others had died, their bodies left as proof could be found a number of places; scattered in the streets, left in alleyways, on front steps, the bodies of the deceased were everywhere. Ashes to Ashes.

“Harry, I have dinner,” he heard his older sister call.

‘Did she say dinner?’ his eyes lit up with joy. It had been oh so long since his stomach had felt full, or even content for that matter. Where once he was filled out, all of his edges soft, he was now skin stretched over bone. His sister and mother were worse of course. Guilt always crept into his mind when he saw them, it was his fault they were so weak, so frail, he was selfish, eating the food that they gave him. They were withering away because they were trying to keep him alive, keep him healthy. He had already lost his father. Ashes to Ashes. That was before they moved to the Ghetto though, before Hitler had started to suppress his family and his religion. That was before Harry’s memories had fully formed, so he didn’t miss his father terribly. The concern for his living family members was the priority now.

“Look Harry,” his sister, Gemma, said pulling something out from behind her back. A Large grin was plastered on her face, so thin with hunger than it looked almost skeletal. “A whole loaf of bread. I think it’s fresh too,” she said happiness shining through her dull greenish-brown eyes.

While once upon a time a loaf of day old bread would have seemed trivial, it was now a precious treasure. The Styles family would eat well tonight. “How did you get that?” the excitement in Harry’s voice was hard to contain.

A look of regret washed over Gemma’s face, but she didn’t let it stay for long. “It doesn’t matter how I got it, all that matters is that we are going to be able to eat tonight. All of us.”

Once again, the all too familiar feeling of shame coursed through Harry’s body. He knew that she had not intended for her words to bring him such guilt, but it only reminded him of the pain he put his family through every night that he slept with a content stomach, and theirs were left empty. Gemma seemed to read his thoughts as she rested her hand on his boney shoulder, rubbing it soothingly. “It isn’t your fault Harry.” She may have said that, but it sure didn’t feel that way to the young curly-haired boy.

“Mom! Gemma brought dinner! A whole loaf of bread!” Harry shouted happily to through their house. Well, it wasn’t really a house, it was a small abandoned structure, perhaps it had been place for storage at some point, but now it was home now.

“Don’t yell Harry,” his mother, Anne, said as she slowly made her way towards the kids. Each step she took was careful; as if she were cautious that one wrong move would break her frail bones. “Just because they treat us like animals doesn’t mean we should act like barbarians.”

“Sorry mom,” Harry responded looking down at the ground.

It wasn’t long before Gemma had split the pieces up into three parts. One was larger than the other two, and that section went to Harry. It always went to Harry.  
“No mother, you have my piece, it’s larger,” Harry insisted holding out his bread.

She shook her head causing her brown hair to shake. “No Harry, you’re a growing boy. You need to eat,” she tried smiling, but her thin cheeks caused it to look like more of a grimace.

“I don’t want it though,” the green-eyed boy insisted looking up with pleading eyes at his thin mother.

“Harry!” Gemma snapped, “Don’t argue with mother. Just eat your bread.”

Harry lowers his head in defeat. There is no point in arguing, he should know this by now, but something always makes him try, makes him try to get them to understand that he isn’t a child anymore. He is fifteen and doesn’t need to be babied.

He ate his bread in silence, his mind wandered off to times before the Ghetto. He didn’t know how long they had been here, a few months maybe? They had come here in middle of summer some time, and the trees were starting to gain their bright, warm hues of autumn. It was still warm though, August perhaps; not that it mattered. They were never going home. Harry had just recently come to this conclusion.

After supper they lay down, all three of them jamming themselves on the small bed, if you could call it that. It was some straw with sheets lay down on top. In the beginning Harry had complained, he had been full of them. He had been hungry, and it was cold, and he wanted to sleep in a proper bed, but now all of it was trivial. He was happy that he that he was sleeping on something besides the hard floor. That he still had his family, which was more than others had. There were too many orphans, too many mothers crying for their lost children, too much death. Ashes to Ashes.

With stomachs full the family of three fell into a slumber quickly. It had been too long since they all could say that they were content. No ones stomachs groaned and grumbled with hunger.

 

A loud banging woke the family. They were not sure what time it was, or who could want their attention at such a late hour. Gemma got up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes with the back of her hands before walking towards the door.

“Come on Judenscheisse! Time to get up! You’re going to be late for a important date,” a German soldier shouted barging in cackling to the others as if he had told some hilarious joke. Harry’s blood boiled as the term Judenscheisse meant his ears. ‘Jew-shit?’ he wanted nothing more than to kill them. He didn’t know how, something slow and painful; that sounded good. One soldier already was pushing Gemma out while the other two grabbed Harry and Anne. They pushed them forward into the night.

They were lead to train cars, shoving them inside. Harry hit the wooden floor, the palms of his hands and his knees absorbing more of the force. The impact caused him to wince.

“Come on Harry,” Gemma said helping him up.

“Where’s mother?” Harry asked looking around frantically. The car was jammed full of other Jews from the Ghetto. “Mom!” he yelled. His voice was drowned out by all the other children shouting for their loved ones.

“It’s okay Harry. I’m over here,” he heard his mother’s voice somewhere to his left. He tried turning his body to see, but the other bodies in the car made it near impossible.

Next thing Harry knew that ground was moving beneath them. The crammed bodies swayed and jerked trying to gain balance.

Harry hung onto Gemma because he was scared. They had no idea where they were going, but they all knew that wherever it was, it was going to be worse than the Ghetto, however hard that was to believe. They didn’t know how long they would be kept in this stuffy train car. It was windowless, and without a bathroom. He didn’t know where his mother was; only that she was somewhere near. The fifteen year old bit his lip drawing blood as he tried hard to keep from crying. This wasn’t the time to show weakness. He was heading into a whole new world of uncertainty. He needed to be strong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Are you guys still interested in this? I like this chapter a lot more than the last one. More happens in it and you start to see the horrible reality of Ghettos. I, as a seventeen year old, probably don't do it justice, but I think I get the general point across.


	3. Chapter Three: A New Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Louis finds friendship in the form of a seemingly perfect German soldier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't think I would continue this, but so many of you showed your support, and you are all right. If you don't like a fic, you can just stop reading it. So, I went and created another chapter, I really don't mean to offend anyone. I just find this point in history intriguing, and honestly, Fan Fiction is a way to get other people to read something they wouldn't otherwise. Which means, perhaps more people will be interested in learning more about this dark time in our history. No, I am not a History prof. so the fact of this may not be 100%, but I am doing my best here, so just bare with me.

_**Louis:** _

Louis awoke to the train shifting, slowing, and slowly coming to a halt. Were they here? Was this really happening? He hadn’t expected reality to hit him so hard. When he had decided to join the war, it had just seemed like a good idea at the time, but now things were slowly falling into place. His world was solidifying around him.

Stretching his limbs he looked out the window at his surroundings. The few trees that stood tall, reaching towards the sky as if trying to escape this place, were a light yellowish green color. The weather was cooling down; fall was slowly coming full bore.

Louis could already tell that this wasn’t a friendly place, it was probably worse for the subordinates that they imported, but it still wasn’t going to be fun. Especially with the frigid weather advancing on them. No, it would be fine; he was just feeling a little homesick. He kept telling himself this, maybe one of these times it would actually stick.

The camp didn’t look so menacing from here though. Did people really die here? _Ashes to Ashes_. It just didn’t seem like that would happen, it seemed like such an unreal concept. Would Louis have to kill someone? He didn’t think he would be able to. He didn’t even like to see blood, maybe everything would work out. Perhaps it was all stories told by people who wanted to seem more important than they really were. That was probably it. Wait, who was he kidding, of course it was real, of course it happened. He should be embracing this; it would be ridding the world of unnecessary filth.

Louis broke his gaze from the camp and looked around at his fellow soldiers. Some were looking at the ground, others were fiddling with the buttons on their uniforms, but most where locked onto the outside, drinking it all in. They most likely felt the same as Louis, in awe of the whole situations, still trying to process how their lives had changed so much since leaving their small hometown where nothing happened. His eyes drifted back towards the window, this would be his new home. God knows how many days, weeks, or years he would spend in this camp.

“Are you as nervous as me?” A deep voice cut into Louis’ thoughts grounding him back to reality. Turning his head slightly he saw Jan staring at him, a questioning expression graced his face.

“Yeah, I just can’t believe it. One moment I was back at home with my family, going to school, doing nothing, but now I’m here? It’s just so hard to comprehend,” it was true. Louis was completely baffled.

“I graduated last year; was the top of my class,” Jan said smiling fondly at the younger boy.

‘Of course he was,’ Louis thought to himself. He was perfect in everyway. His parents were probably proud, his mind and body were both quintessential. Louis couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy. It was a shame though; Jan seemed like a nice guy. He was friendly, and that’s what Louis needed right now, a friend.

“Did you finish your studies?” Jan inquired.

Louis felt as if his life was under inspection. “No. No I left school to join the Reich.”

“Can’t say I blame you,” a smirk played on Jan’s perfect lips, crinkles formed beside his ocean blue eyes. “You wouldn’t want to miss out on the fun right? Plus, someone’s got to keep the dirty mongrels in their place.”

“It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it,” Louis agreed digging through his bag. “Want one?” he asked emerging with the sugar biscuits he had hidden away the other day.

“I heard we get to gut them like fish,” _Ashes to Ashes._ Jan exclaimed his eyes wide in excitement. He happily reached over and grabbed one of Louis’ biscuits acknowledging his appreciativeness with a nod of his head. “Do you think it’s true? Like, will we actually get to give it to ‘em?”

“I don’t see why they would lie about that,” the brown-haired boy shrugged, “No point in getting our hope up, right?”

“You know, I heard that there was once this SS that refused to kill the Jews. How strange is that? Pansy, that’s what I say. If you don’t have the stomach for it, you shouldn’t be here. It’s as easy as putting down a dog.” _Ashes to Ashes._ The fair skinned boy was waving his hands about trying to make his point clear.

‘It’s as easy as putting down a dog,’ Jan’s words echoed around Louis’ mind. That was what Louis feared. He couldn’t help but let his mind wander back to the death of his beloved canine. No, he had been a boy then; he was a man now. He couldn’t show weakness, what would his new comrades think? What would Jan think? He had to be strong, show them that he wanted this just as badly as them.

“Ah! The new boys,” an SS officer had made his way onto the train. This was their greeting party. “Follow me now, you are all in for an eye-opener. If you don’t have the guts to be here, I suggest you leave now. We don’t have the time for lily-livers ‘round here.”

“Show time,” Jan said popping the last bit of Louis’ sugar biscuit into his mouth. His eyes sparkled with excitement and joy.

They followed the SS Commander off the train and through the gates of the camp.

“So you’re job here is simple, and if you do it well we won’t have any complications. Got it?”

There was a grumbling of agreements that arose from the new soldiers.

“I asked a question!” the Commander shouted at them.

“Yes sir!” they responded in unison.

“Good. What you are going to have to do is keep the lowlifes in line. I find that hitting them works well.”

Louis heard Jan give a small chuckle. He looked over at the blond boy who smiled fondly back. “See, this is going to be a walk in the park,” Jan whispered flashing him another crinkle-eyed smile.

“You got something to say boy?” the SS officer asked looking over at Jan with a disapproving gaze.

“ _No Sir!”_ Jan said standing at attention, limbs stretched and stiff.

“I like this pretty boy,” the officer said looking Jan over. Then he turned his attention back to the group. “You will each get assigned to a group of prisoners, about seven to ten of them. We are getting a new shipment of them tomorrow, for today you can just watch. Get a feeling for the camp. We wouldn’t want you getting lost, now would we? Now go put your stuff down in your quarters. You will be sharing a room with two others.”

They were all sent on their way. Louis was filled with relief when he found that Jan was one of his roommates. Another was a lad who went by the name Hans. He was well built, his hair was a dirty blond, and his eyes a light green.

“Eh, looks like we got bunked together,” Jan said, Louis was pretty sure this boy never stopped smiling. “We got Hans too? This ain’t a shabby group at all.”

“You know each other?” Louis asked looking between the two other boys.

“Jan and I go back,” Hans said grinning. “We were classmates; joined the Reich together too. Who would have known that we would have been assigned here together, let alone room with each other.”

“Don’t worry, we got your back,” Jan said patting Louis’ back, “blood brothers, right?”

Louis looked at him with a confused expression before realizing that Jan was gesturing to his blood group tattoo. Jan showed Louis his own tattoo, which matched, a small ‘O.’ Well that would be useful if either of them were dying. Not that he planed to, this seemed like a pretty easy job.

“I for one, can’t wait until we get those new Jews,” Hans said stretching, “Seems fun.”

“How many do yah recon we will get to disembowel?” Jan said leaning forward on the edge of the bed.

“I figure at least a hundred,” Louis said glancing over at the overly excited boy. “I mean have you seen how many of them come in at once? There’s like at least one-hundred-twenty people in _each_ car.”

“Shit, how do they all fit in there? Must be cramped,” Hans said wide eyed, obviously trying to figure out how it was possible to fit so many bodies into such a small space.

“Hey, it’s about dinner time. Let’s grab some food?” Jan said. His stomach was audible from across the room where Louis was standing.

“Food, sound’s like a great idea,” Hans agreed rubbing his stomach.

The three boys made their way towards the mess hall, each with empty stomachs, but excitement swelling up in their hearts. Louis was starting to think this wasn’t so bad. They got good food, and by the scent radiating out of the kitchen, it wasn’t too shabby. Sausages perhaps?  And he had already managed to make at least one friend that he could talk to. Life seemed to be working out just fine for the blue-eyed boy.


End file.
